Now, the painting itself has vanished — lost, misplaced or stolen while on loan to City Colleges of Chicago.

The saga began in November 2009, when the watercolor was selected for a City Colleges art exhibit and Clay, a Truman College student, agreed to allow City Colleges to borrow the artwork.

The traveling art show began in January 2009 and ended in May.

What happened to the painting is a mystery.

"Aussie Wash" was never returned to Clay, and she was never given an explanation about what happened to it. Clay said she first contacted Truman College in September. She said she was told the painting was displayed at all of the tour's stops but vanished before it returned to Truman.

When Clay asked the school to compensate her for the loss, things bogged down quickly.

In the loan agreement she signed in November 2009, Clay marked that she wanted the painting sold. On that sheet, Clay left the suggested sale price blank.

On a subsequent form she signed that day, Clay put the sale price at $800, a figure she said she arrived at based on previous paintings she had sold.

An accomplished artist who has sold her work for greeting cards, company brochures and personal collections, Clay said she thought the $800 price was fair.

In December, Ralph Passarelli, director of risk management for City Colleges, sent Clay a settlement agreement. Passarelli said that because Clay left the sale price blank on the first loan agreement, the school had to determine how much "Aussie Wash" was worth.

He said that four paintings from the show were sold, with the average price being $155. Passarelli offered Clay $175, including $20 for the time she invested in the matter.

Clay wasn't impressed.

"I told them no," she said. "They said they didn't have anything on file for how much money it was worth."

After battling with the school and making no progress, Clay e-mailed What's Your Problem? on Jan. 5.

"Trying to get money from them is really impossible," she said. "They don't want to pay me for it, it seems."